1916: The Rising Handbook

A handbook to the events and locations of the Easter 1916 Rising. There are so many different versions of the story of Easter Week 1916. Lorcan Collins, an acknowledged expert on the subject and founder of the 1916 Rebellion Walking Tour, decided that it was time to put together a truthful and factually correct reference book in one handy volume. This ‘1916 bible’ will be invaluable to anyone with an interest in recent Irish history who wants to separate the facts from the fiction. 1916: The Rising Handbook offers bite-sized details about the organisations involved in the Rising, the positions occupied during Easter week, the weapons the rebels and army used, the documents that were passed around, and the speeches that were given. It details the women who came out to fight and profiles the sixteen executed leaders, as well as looking at the rebellion outside of Dublin. It also utilises three different resources to give the most comprehensive list yet of all of those involved in the Rising. If a relative of yours fought during Easter 1916, you’ll find their name in here.      

Table of Contents:
DRAFT CHAPTER OUTLINE  Section One                Timeline  Section Two                Documents and Newspapers  Section Three              Weapons  Section Four                The Sea and the Easter Rising  Section Five                Organisations  Section Six                  Flags, banners and uniforms  Centre Section            Images of documents  Section Seven             Women and the Easter Rising  Section Eight              Positions Occupied & Garrison Strengths  Section Nine               Casualties and Destruction  Section Ten                 Roll of Honour  Section Eleven            Outside of Dublin  Section Twelve           Miscellaneous Index

About the Author :
Lorcan Collins is founder of the 1916 Walking Tour of Dublin and, with Conor Kostick, wrote The Easter Rising: A Guide to Dublin in 1916. He lectures on Easter 1916 in the United States, and is a regular contributor to radio, television and historical journals. Lorcan conceived the 16 Lives series and wrote the first book in the series, a biography of James Connolly. His other books include 1916: The Rising Handbook and Ireland’s War of Independence 1919-21 - The IRA’s Guerrilla Campaign. Lorcan is host of the Revolutionary Ireland podcast. 

Review :
fascinating … useful … remarkable … a most useful book to keep to hand when reading others books on the Rising and the subsequent War of Independence as it contains most of the information that one may wish to quickly refer to Irish author, historian and lecturer Lorcan Collins sums it all up neatly with this slim volume of forensic facts, true timelines, listings, and biographies of all involved. Accented with maps, drawings, photographs and newspaper clippings, the bite-sized details are easily digestible, and, added-up, are more than filling for either hardcore readers with a passion for the past or those simply looking to see what all the hype is about. Either way, the author has pieced together the puzzle of an historic time and the people who made that history happen Lorcan Collins […] quietly amassed an encyclopaedic knowledge of revolutionary Ireland. That knowledge illuminates every page of 1916 The Rising Handbook, his essential new guide to the uprising. Collins’ book is nothing less than a total immersion in the era, introducing us to its principle players and their often conflicting politics. […] Planned as a reference book and guide to the general reader, 1916 The Rising Handbook is one of the most comprehensive introductions to the revolution you could ever ask for. a handy first tool for historians as well as 1916 obsessives provides a readily available ‘toolbox’ of essential information, interesting facts and indispensable lists to the wider public … to be recommended. It does what it says on the tin and more a great book … it will bust many myths and end many rows A fascinating book I can seriously say this hand on heart that if there are two books that all our children should read this year, about 1916, it would be your 1916 The Rising Handbook and Joe Duffy’s Book about the children who lost their lives in it. With the two of those you get an incredible range of views and a breadth of understanding about what actually happened that maybe you and I didn’t get when we went to school….. I hope it sells by the bucketload if you only buy one title about the Easter Rising, it should be Lorcan Collin’s 1916: The Rising Handbook slim but forensic fascinating